The Daily Top Five

Might help if you actually remember to click Publish.


1. Today being the Anniversary of teh attack on Pearl Harbor, I looked around for a good post about the lessons of the 1941 attack. It would be easy to do a Dec. 7-9/11 link, but I think Ilya Somin has one of the better posts I have seen.

2. Michelle Malkin and Bryan Preston dismantle Gwenneth Paltrow.

3. Every election season, politicians attempt to speak at churches and even win clergy endorsements. The reason is that churchgoers vote, much more than non-churchgoers. Over the years, a number of churches have been prosecuted by the IRS for engaging in political and partisan activity, which contravenes the law regarding tax exempt organization. Bob Bauer discusses a recent article that argues that instead of attacking the churches and congregations, the IRS should go after the politicians who seek to and actually do speak at those churches. Bauer asks that we reconsider the wisdom of prohibiting such practices:

Reflection on the nature of these violations might suggest that we might reconsider the proscription rather than seek out more militant and wide-ranging enforcement. How can be it said, for example, that politicians can be driven from the pulpit "without infringing a church’s First Amendment rights"? Politicians may wish to address a congregation, but a congregation may well wish to hear them. A congregation may be happy to entertain a request, or willingly issue an invitation, for such an appearance. It is not so much a question of whether we are punishing enough or the right people, but of why we believe that punishment of this behavior is even necessary or desirable.

4. Yesterday Justice's Scalia and Breyer held a discussion about the Court and the Constitution. No Left Turns has a link to video and Allison Hawyard (whose husband writes at No Left Turns) posts about it as well, writing:

I have to say in general that Justice Breyer comes across as a pleasant and smart person (surprisingly pleasant, actually). However, he talks about the Constitution like a mainline Episcopalian talks about the Bible. See, we’re not really suppose to follow the document - but think "hard" about the underlying "purposes" and follow those. Openended? Idiosyncratic? Banal? Yes.

Breyer struck me as the guy who was so smart and system wise he never really had to work all that hard. So the vagaries and imprecision of what he’s advocating just don’t bother him.

Justice Scalia, on the other hand, was precise, crisp, sensible, amusing, and seemed to be having an excellent time. This surprised me - I anticipated he’d be more prickly. His point - which will come as no surprise to any of you - was that the Constitution is a real document you really need to read and follow.

I can't wait to watch the video.

5. This just made it in, since I debated whether not to include it. In generally, I don't like the banning of any book for any reason, but sometimes I have to wonder about the wisdom of our school leaders. Just because a book is published doesn't mean it is suitable for all audiences. Michelle Malkin has a story about three books in a Queens school.